Velvet Cartel

An extraordinary painting by Robert Hannaford.

This along with many others, is a finalist for the Archibald Prize.

The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. JF Archibald’s primary aims were to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians. Since its inception in 1921 the prize has been awarded to some of Australia’s most important artists, including George Lambert, William Dobell and Brett Whiteley.

Irving Harper has been a long time hero of ours. We were first introduced to this design legend in 2001 from an interview in Metropolis Magazine. It was our first realization that George Nelson was credited for many of the iconic designs that Harper had created. Designs that are still being manufactured today by Herman Miller, Vitra, and Maharam from the Marshmallow sofa to the popular desk and wall clocks. Slowly but surely Harper is being recognized, either for his design contributions or his paper sculptures, a hobby he took on after hours. Michael Maharam is helping to document these sculptures in a monograph to be published by the end of the year. New York Times visited Harper recently at his home in Rye, New York, capturing a portrait of the him in his studio. Interestingly enough, the photo was shot from the same angle as the 2001 photo of his studio in Metropolis Magazine – every bit of the space appears to be the same.

Source: The Scout

Last Thursday I posted this video showing the redesign if the $100 bill here in the U.S. and the proceeded to talk about how horrible it was. To my surprise there were a lot of commenters who seemed to think that the idea of security and beauty were two concepts that couldn’t live together, which kind of baffled me.

In response I’m posting these currency redesigns by Michael Tyznik, who I think did an amazing job of bridging the gap between design and potential security. His design includes ideas like a holographic strip, which not only makes it easier to tell the bills apart easier but could also be filled with a bevy of security features, I would assume. Inside the strip there are also embossed dots for the sight-impaired, something that current currency definitely doesn’t take into consideration.

This in my mind couldn’t be any better looking. It’s simple and bold while still giving a nod to the history of money in America. If you’ve happened to notice that there’s a lack of $1 you’re right, Michael suggests doing away with the $1 all together and replacing them with coins instead as it only has an average lifespan of 21 months. Kinda interesting, huh?

Source: kitsunenoir.com

Some new illustrations from the guys over at I Love Dust & Andrew Diprose for a project called Ride Journals

Be sure to check out the rest of the covers too.